Improvement in feeding-device for machines for combing- cotton



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CHARLES F.HADLEY,F CHICOPE E,MASSACHUSETTS, AND ELISHA JOHNSON; vOF WETHERSFI'ELD,CONNECTICUT1 Letters Patent No. 91,229, dated June 15, 1869,

IMPROVEMENT IN FEEDING--DEVICE FOR MACHINES FOR COMBING COTTON, 8m.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and malng part of the lame.

To all whom it 'may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES F. HAnLnY, of Chicopee, iu/the county of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts, and ELIS'HA JOHNSON, of Wethersiield, in the county of Hartford, and State of Connecticnt, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines 'for Combing Cotton, and other fibrous material; and we do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings, making a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

Figure 1 is a top View.

Figure 2 isa side elevation.

Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, are detailed. parts, to be referred to.

The drawings 1do not profess to show a complete machine for combing cotton, but only the particular part in which the improvement is embodied. g

It is to be understood, that there are required to be added suitable cylinders, furnished with nipping-jaws, which shall have the capacity, Vasthey revolve wit-h an intermittent motion, to transferthe tuft of cotton4 from the jaws of one cylinder, to the jaws of' the next cylinder inl the series, so that it will first be held by one end in the .jaws of one, and-then by the other end' in 'the jaws of the next cylinder, suitable revolving combingcylinders being brought to act upon the tuft, while held by each of the cylinders, substantially as described in the Letters Patent granted to Cullen Whipple and Rufus T. Stafford, dated March 4, 1862, to which, for a. minute description ofthe manner in which such cylindex-s act, to transfer thematelial from one to the i other throughout the series, and the action of the combing-cylinders combined therewith, reference is to be had.

Instead of the said machine of Whipple and Staiford, any other preferred combing-machine may be employed. The present improvement relates to the apparatus, and its combinations with the combing-instrumentalities, by which the lap of cotton, or other material to be acted upon, is presented to the machinery, which is Ff; "beam, which is supported laterally by the usual stand- In front of such feedingollers, and parallel with them, is arranged a number of gill-combs, D, gs. 1

and 6, in combination with which are compresser-bars, formedby the edges f of the case in which such gillcombs are placed, and the edge of achannelled bar, E, located vabove the same. l(See also fig. 4.)

The roll of lapping, supported as above described, and also the feeding-rollers C O, gill-combs, and compresser-bars, last mentioned, are mounted upon ra carriage-frame, F, which is iitted to slide back and forth upon the top ofthe frame A of the machine, whereby such roll of lapping, and the sheet of the same given oli' by the feeding-rollers, is moved alternately toward and away from the machinery, which is to take a tuft from such sheet, for the purpose of combing the same.

The backward and forward movement of the carriage F, is produced by'means of the long arm G, operated by the grooved cam J, on the main shaft I'.

The backward movement of the carriage causes the lever K, pivoted to the lilik L, hinged to the stud-pin g, to vibrate, its fulcrum being the axle of the ratchetplate d, and, consequently, the pawl E, pivoted to the top ofthe lever K, will ride over the teeth ofthe ratchet.

The forward movement of the carriage will, of ueeessity, cause the pawl to work the ratchet-plate, and thereby set the feeding-rollers C C in motion.

The shaft of the lower feeding-roller is .furnished with a toothed wheel, which, through the intermediate gear-wheel M. gives movement to the toothed wheel N, keyed to the shaft of the-roller b, fig. 1, upon which the roll of lapping rests, and thus, contemporaueously Awith the rotation of the feeding-rollers C C, the roll of lapping is unwonnd.

The purpose of the cam O, is to operate the compresser-bars E E, which have been mentioned.

Thiscam is fitted to revolve upon the shaft H, and motion is communicated to it from a'driving-gear, T, on the main shaft, by means of the train of gear-wheels Upon the face of the cam O, a bar,Q, hinged, at its rear end, lto the frame, rides. Its forward end rises and falls under the control of the cam O.

Two toothed sections, g, one upon each side of the machine,` also obtain a vibratory movement from the cam O, such sections being keyed upon the rocker-shaft R, figs. 1 and 2, which shaft is rocked by the cam ,0, in one direction, through the lever S, whose bent end rides upon the bar Q, and in the other direction by the reactionary force of springs h.

The toothed sections engage with racks k, shown in detail at iig. 3.

These racksrwork wedges m, arranged to force apart, when introduced between them, the case containing the gill-comb D, and the bar E above the same.

lSprings n o cause the compresser-bars, formed by the edges of the comh-case D, and the edges of the bar E E, to approach each other, without, however, closing tightly upon the material, when the wedges are withdrawn.

In order to understand the operation of the whole apparatus, let it be supposed that the carriage F is moving forward.

The cam O is so arranged, that the compresser-bars will be wide open, so that the rollers C C can feed the material.

A gridiron-plate, lig. 5, is located above the gillcombs, upon which plate the material is supported as it is fed along.

When the carriage has reached the end of its fori ward movement, the cam O being properly timed for that purpose, the compresser-bars approach each other, and the gll-teeth are thrust through the material.

The projecting trrtt of the material is now caught by the nipping-jaws of the revolving cylinders, which form part 0f the combing-machinery before referred to, and at the same instant the carriage F, the lap being somewhat compressed, commences to move backward, and, of necessity, a tutt is drawn out from the lap, straightened by the combs, and retained by the nipping-jaws.

The great advantage which the above-described improvement seeks to embody, is that of drawing out the several tufts to be combed, successively, from a lap. in a line coincident with the line in which the fibres lie, in order that the full length of the staple may be preserved unbroken.

Without limiting ourselves to the special form vmd arrangement of the several parts of the machinery, as 

